


I Need You

by d2fmeasurement



Category: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9323372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d2fmeasurement/pseuds/d2fmeasurement
Summary: Darryl is torn between two men after Nathaniel kisses him.





	

Darryl walked into Nathaniel’s office and was shocked to see the candy wrappers everywhere. Nathaniel was on his treadmill desk, running at full speed. Darryl watched with concern as Nathaniel ranted about messing up.

When he fell flat on his face, Darryl rushed to his side. “Are you alright?” he asked.

Nathaniel rolled onto his back and said, “I’m fine. It’s fine.” He sat up, took a deep breath and then told Darryl, “You should get out of here. You have work to do.”

“Well, not really because you didn’t give me any cases…” He put his hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder and asked, “What’s upsetting you?”

“I’m not upset,” Nathaniel said. “Losers get upset. Winners understand that when you don’t get something, you just need to work harder and be better and stop being such a pathetic loser.”

Darryl furrowed his eyebrows. “Okay, well, you’re definitely not a pathetic loser. You’ve been doing a great job. Did you not get that big client?”

Nathaniel shook his head. He stared up at the ceiling to avoid looking at Darryl.

“That’s okay. You’ll get the next one,” Darryl said. “You’re a good kid.”

Nathaniel abruptly turned to him. “What’d you just say?”

“Oh, did you not hear me? Did you hurt your ears when you fell? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No, I--” Nathaniel rolled his eyes. “I heard you. I just… say it again.”

Darryl smiled and said, “You’re a good kid.”

Nathaniel leaned in and put his hand on the back of Darryl’s head, pulling him close so he could kiss him hard.

Darryl kissed back for a second before he said, “Wait, we can’t--”

“Oh. Right. There’s people outside. Hold on,” Nathaniel said. He went stuck his head out his office door and said, “You guys can go home. Darryl and I have it covered.”

Nathaniel closed the door and returned to sitting down next to Darryl on the floor.

Darryl grinned and said, “You said ‘Darryl and I.’ You trust me to work for this client!”

“No, there is no client because my dad didn’t give it to us,” Nathaniel reminded him. “I sent everyone but you home so we could have sex on my desk. Please keep up.”

“This feels really sudden,” Darryl said. “I didn’t even know you were gay.” After a second, he added, “Or bi.” He frowned and said, “Oh my God, why did I only say gay at first? I’m part of the problem.”

“Of course I’m gay,” Nathaniel said. “I graduated at the top of my class, wracked up incredible work as an associate and still got stuck at a tiny law firm in West Covina. You think my dad would do that to a straight son? It’s fine. I’m fine. I just have to keep working to be better. Hey, let’s kiss some more.” He leaned in.

Darryl scooted away. “Oh, Nathaniel, I’m very flattered--”

“You should be,” Nathaniel said. “I mean, you really, really should be.”

“But, I actually have a boyfriend.”

Nathaniel laughed and confidently asked, “Is he as hot as me?”

Darryl looked over Nathaniel and thought about it. “Yeah,” he said.

Nathaniel frowned. “Seriously? What’s your deal?”

Darryl shrugged. “I genuinely don’t know. You guys both came onto me first.” He shook his head and said, “But, the point is, cheating is wrong.”

Nathaniel pouted and said, “But, I’m so sweaty.”

Darryl groaned and said, “Yes, you are. But, I can’t.” He put his arm on him and said, “It’s not anything wrong with you. You have a perfect face and body. I’m just taken. Okay, kiddo?”

“Yeah. I understand,” Nathaniel said. He sighed and said, “I guess I’m just not good enough for anyone.”

Darryl rubbed his back and said, “Hey. Of course you’re good enough. You’re attractive and smart and passionate.”

Nathaniel scooted close and nuzzled his face against Darryl’s neck. “It’s so nice to hear you say that,” he said.

“I should go,” Darryl said. He tried to will his body to inch away from Nathaniel, but he found himself staying still.

“But, I need you,” Nathaniel said.

Darryl stared at him for a second. “Wow, well, um…” He started to lean in again, but then he stood up. “I need to go. Sorry. I’ll see you on Monday.”

As soon as Darryl was gone, Nathaniel started running on his treadmill desk. He opened up Facebook and found Darryl’s friend request. There was no way in hell he was accepting it, but fortunately Darryl’s profile was public so he could still snoop.

He found his relationship status and clicked on Josh’s profile. When he saw the board shorts and flip-flops wearing loser staring back at him, he let out a disgusted groan. He made his profile picture full size and then looked at the screen intensely as he said, “I’m going to crush you, Josh Wilson.”

 

 

Darryl walked into his apartment. He screamed when he saw Josh there, unscrewing a light bulb. “What are you doing? How’d you get in here?” he asked.

Josh furrowed his eyebrows. “You gave me a key. And I remembered you said you’ve been so busy working-- well, trying to get some work assigned to you-- that you haven’t even had time to pick up a new lightbulb, so I thought I’d do it for you.”

Darryl stared at him sadly. “That is so, so nice of you.”

Josh laughed and said, “It’s not a big deal.”

“Let me do something for you. Are you hungry? I could make-- well, there’s not really anything in the fridge-- but, I could order…”

“Oh, I picked up some stuff for both of us at that Thai place you like on my way over here. You want some?” Josh asked.

“Wow, you’re on top of things,” Darryl said.

Josh went into the kitchen and started putting pad thai onto plates. “I guess,” he said.

“There must be something I can help you with,” he said. “Let’s talk something out. Anything bothering you? Oh, what about that cleaner at the gym who you can never get to do anything.”

“Oh, I told him that if he doesn’t start cleaning I’d have to let him go. He saw I was serious and he’s been doing good work since. It wasn’t the easiest conversation to have but, you know, it had to get done,” he said.

“Wow, you’ve just got it covered,” Darryl said.

Josh furrowed his eyebrows. “Uh…”

“Let’s go deeper. What unresolved issues do you have that I can help you with? How are things with your father?”

Josh laughed and said, “They’re good. We hung out yesterday and went to the beach together. Remember? I told you that.”

“Right,” Darryl said.

“Are you, like, mad at me right now for not being emotionally stunted?”

“Of course I’m not mad at you!” Darryl said. He looked at Josh very seriously and told him, “You’re a good kid.” He waited for a reaction.

Josh wrinkled his nose. He was fairly used to Darryl being weird, especially when he was under stress, so he said, “Eat up, okay? I already DVR’d MacGyver for you so that’s ready to go. Oh and I picked up some sriracha if you need--”

“You really don’t need me at all, do you?” Darryl asked softly.

Josh frowned. “Um... “ He laughed and said, “I guess not ‘need’ exactly. But, I love you.”

 

Darryl sighed. “Josh, I have to tell you something,” he said. He closed his eyes and softly said, “I cheated on you. Sort of. I mean, someone kissed me. I swear I didn’t initiate it. But, I did kiss back for a second.” He opened his eyes and saw Josh looking back at him, with eyes full of disappointment.

“... why?” Josh asked him.

Darryl had been expecting yelling or crying. He wasn’t sure how to answer that calm question. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Just-- I’d like to understand why you kissed back and then move forward from there,” he said. He knew Darryl had a tendency to overshare, so he quickly added, “I mean, I don’t want details. Just… were you so attracted to someone that you got caught up in the heat of the moment and did something you regret… or were you tempted because you think that they can give you something that I can’t?”

“Wow. That is a really blunt question,” Darryl said.

“And you didn’t answer it right away,” Josh said. “So, I feel like I understand the situation now.” He stood up.

As soon as Josh turned towards the door, Darryl was hit with the sudden realization of how ridiculous he was being. “Wait!” he said. “Josh, you are so much better than this other person. I mean, I can’t stress enough what a better person you are.” He felt weirdly guilty saying that about Nathaniel, but he knew it was objectively true.

“Maybe,” Josh said. “But, that doesn’t make me the person that you should be with.”

“Wait, you’re not… you’re not never speaking to me again, right?” Darryl asked.

“You kissed someone else, Darryl. So I need some time. I will answer your calls when I’m ready,” Josh told him.

Josh left.

Darryl sighed. He turned to the plates of pad thai in front of him, realizing with resignation that he was definitely going to eat all of it immediately.

 

 

“Oh, Rebecca, you’re here. Great. Come in and close the door behind you,” Nathaniel said.

“Fine, but I should warn you: I got engaged over the weekend, so I am too amazing a mood for you to break me,” Rebecca told him. She smiled defiantly at him as she closed his office door.

“You got engaged? So, you suddenly met someone who’s marriage material? Maybe an old flame from Harvard who swooped in--”

“I’m marrying Josh,” she snapped. “The man I’ve told you many times is the love of my life.”

“Josh,” Nathaniel said, narrowing his eyes. “I hate that name.”

“Is that anti-semitism?” Rebecca asked.

“Rebecca, it’s a very common name for people of many groups,” he said.

“Fair enough. I just feel like I have to be vigilant around you because of your whole vibe,” she said.

Nathaniel gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. “Tell me about Josh.”

Rebecca tilted her head, “Why do you suddenly want to know? Do you need more material for your insults? Running out of flip-flop material?”

“I’ll never run out of flip-flop material. They’re the most disgusting footwear ever made, even worse than Crocs,” he told her. “Which brings me to my question: what’s the appeal of a man like Josh? Did you just sink your claws into the most attractive person willing to have sex with you and never let go?”

“Okay, as fun as this conversation is, I’m going to leave,” Rebecca said.

“I’ll give you Friday off if you talk to me,” Nathaniel said.

Rebecca turned back to him with surprise. “You really want to know about Josh,” she said.

“Let’s say there was an equally-- if not more-- attractive man who was also interested in you and he actually had a college degree and a grown up job and owned shoes. You’d drop Josh in a second, right?”

“Are you hitting on me?” she asked.

“Rebecca, please don’t be gross,” he said. “Just tell me why anyone would be interested in a loser like Josh.”

“Okay, well, he’s lot a loser he’s just… not hung up on unimportant stuff like status and money.”

Nathaniel flinched. “I said don’t be gross.”

“But, I think more than anything it’s the way he makes me feel about myself,” she said. “The way he smiles at me when I take care of him. It’s like… he really needs me. And that makes me feel special.”

Nathaniel nodded and said, “That was… moderately helpful. You can go.”

“Great, fun as ever, thanks for the congratulations, by the way,” Rebecca told him.

She headed straight to Paula’s desk to dish about the conversation she’d just had. Darryl rushed over from his office and met her there.

“Hey, guys,” Darryl said. “What are we talking about? Nathaniel? Okay. What were you two chatting about? He didn’t say anything about anything, did he? You don’t have to say it out loud. Just blink if he said something.”

“What?” Rebecca asked. “What are you talking about?”

Darryl let out a breath of relief. “Okay. You don’t know. Good. It’s nothing.”

Paula shook her head at Darryl. “Rebecca, focus, what did you two talk about?” she asked.

“The usual. He was just bugging me about why I would get engaged to Josh,” Rebecca said.

“You explained that this is what we’ve been working for all this time and he’s not going to get you to change your mind now that we’re so close, right?” Paula asked.

“I just told him the truth,” she said. “That Josh really needs me and that makes me feel special.”

“Yes! Exactly! And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Darryl said. “You want someone who’ll let you take care of them instead of some self-sufficient, zen master whose life is as perfect as his body.”

“What?” Rebecca asked.

“Darryl, stop trying to be helpful,” Paula said. “Rebecca, that’s not the only thing you like about Josh, right?”

“No, of course not,” Rebecca said. “I mean, he’s sweet and… nice and… kind and… he’s so optimistic, almost to the point of being annoying, but not quite.”

“Okay, good,” Paula said. “Because as much as I want you to be with Josh, you can’t be with someone just because their need to be taken care of makes you feel important.”

“She can’t? Why not?” Darryl asked. “Is she making the biggest mistake of her life and she’ll hate herself forever?”

“That’s extreme,” Paula said. “But, you can’t base an entire relationship around someone being dependent on you.”

“You’re right,” Darryl said. “You’re so right. This has been very helpful,” Darryl said. “Thanks, girl squad.”

“You’re not in the girl squad,” Rebecca called after him as he headed into Nathaniel’s office.

“Darryl,” Nathaniel said calmly. “Could you close the door?”

Darryl closed the door.

Nathaniel smiled at him and asked, “What are you doing tonight?”

“I told my boyfriend what happened,” Darryl blurted out. “He’s upset and if I’m going to win him back…”

“You can’t keep spending time with me. Of course,” Nathaniel said. “Well, I hope everything works out for the best.”

“Do you? I thought you might…”

“What? Ask you to choose me over him?” Nathaniel asked. “Do you think I’m that selfish?”

“No! Of course not!” Darryl said.

“I can’t decide for you who to be with. Only you can decide that,” Nathaniel said.

“Right,” Darryl said. “I guess I have a lot to think about.” He turned to go.

“Hey, Darryl?” Nathaniel asked.

“Yes?” he asked, turning back to face him.

“Do you think you could come over tonight and help me fall asleep?” he asked.

Darryl hesitated. “Um, well, remember what I just said about how if I’m going to get Josh to forgive me--”

“Oh, nothing has to happen,” Nathaniel said quickly. “I’d just like someone there because…” He pouted. “I get so sad when I’m alone and it’s so nice having you around. I’m still really sad about not getting that client and I just… really need you right now.”

Darryl nodded. “Of course I can come over.”


End file.
